Cotton, Boozman, and Crawford Applaud Iraqi Purchase of U.S. Rice

Washington, D.C. - Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Congressman Rick Crawford (R-Arkansas) today applauded the news that Iraq will buy 30,000 metric tons of rice from the United States.

"I told the Iraqi ambassador multiple times that his country would benefit from opening its market to Arkansas rice, and I'm pleased to see this deal finally come through. Arkansas rice is second to none, and I'm confident we'll find many more customers in this promising new market," said Cotton.

"This is excellent news for Arkansas's rice farmers. I recently wrapped up my annual agriculture tour, and the message that was continually echoed was ‘protect the markets we have and work to open new ones.' Given a level playing field, our agricultural producers can compete with anyone, but making that happen can be a heavy lift. I am pleased to see this deal come to fruition and will continue to work with my colleagues and the administration to open more markets for our farmers," said Boozman.

"As an advocate for new and friendly trade partnerships, I am pleased to see the U.S. reach a rice tender with Iraq. This new market creates more opportunity for our Arkansas farmers and I appreciate the large effort put into making this deal happen," said Crawford